Surf Theology

Christian theology is often crouched in symbols, because theology is a tough subject and by expressing these concepts in symbols we can make it comprehensible. My favorite among my sermons is called “Summertime, and the Livin' is Easy”; it equates living in God's grace as summertime. In it I said:

...Now the one problem with summer is that it ends. The leaves fall, the wind howls, the snow comes and we are once again plunged into the icy grip of winter. But the summertime of the resurrected life is an endless summer. In Bruce Brown's 1964 movie, The Endless Summer, two surfers circle the globe in a quest for the perfect wave. As Robert and Mike, Brown's surfing duo, travel the globe they find great surfing, and they finally find the object of their quest in South Africa. But they are no more responsible for the perfect wave than we are for God's grace; just as we do with grace, they find the wave and accept it...

From this concept in my sermon springs “surf theology”. Surf theology is simple and I think it's very clear. In surf theology, those of us seeking God's grace are surfers. God's grace, which results from the sacrifice of his Son Jesus Christ, is the waves; always there, always moving, always ready for the surfers. What allows us to accept God's grace? Faith. Faith is the surfboard. Our faith carries us on the waves, and we can always kick out and catch the next wave. If we lose our faith, we can drown, because the sea under the waves is the world, constantly ready to pull us down in undertows and riptides. Riding the waves of God's grace lifts us above the world. Sometimes we wipe out, slip off the board and get plunged under the water, but we can haul in on the leash and climb back on the board (in Methodist theology, the leash is prevenient grace). Finally, one day we will ride the wave all the way into the shore, and we will be on the beach in the eternal sunshine of the presence of God.

OK, it's a stretch, and it's full of holes and logical inconsistancies, but it accomplishes the purpose: impart theological concepts in an understandable symbolic manner.

Simplicity itself: God's grace is a wave. Faith is a surfboard. Heaven is a beach. Catch the wave.

Posted by trygstad | Category: Personal | 08:39 AM